Maybe He Won't See Me
by toxic-blur
Summary: A quick trip to the mall in which Dave hopes to run into exactly nobody he knows doesn't go quite as planned when he comes face-to-face with Blaine. M for language, I guess? I don't want to underrate it and get keelhauled or whatever.


A/N: I suck at titles. I'm sorry. Might be a multi-chapter if you like. I don't know. Let me know if I should continue. :o)

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.

Dave hadn't been out much lately.

The way he saw it, coming face-to-face with former classmates would play out one of two ways. He could be met with more hate _(next time finish the job,_ _Karofsky!)_, or he could be faced with sympathetic, pitiful glances from people who unintentionally make him feel like a walking freakshow. Dave isn't sure which would be worse.

But an early morning trip to the mall would be one of the safest ways to break his habit of being a total shut-in, he figured. It's never too crowded until about lunchtime, so he'd run less of a risk of running into someone he knew.

Dave walked past the storefronts, many of them still in the process of lifting their gates for the day. He stopped to eye some basketball shorts, but reminded himself that he wasn't here for that. His sneakers had been dead for about a month, and he could only do so much in flip flops.

He was almost to the sports apparel store when he did a double take at someone coming towards him on the opposite side of the walkway. _Is that— shit, it is._

Blaine Anderson.

_Maybe he won't see me_, Dave thought hopefully. He pulled his cap down further over his eyes and looked straight ahead, picking up his pace just so.

He was almost around the corner when— "Dave?"

_Shit._

Dave froze for a minute, contemplating bolting out of the nearest fire exit. He took a deep breath and hesitantly turned around to see Blaine looking at him from beneath a quirked eyebrow.

"Hey," Blaine said cheerfully, "I thought that was you sneaking by."

Dave managed a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, you caught me."

Blaine's grin fell a little as he surveyed Dave's face. "How, uh. How have you been?"

"I've been good. Really good," Dave said, trying to sound as upbeat as possible.

Blaine nodded slowly and grinned, but his eyebrow was raised again and he looked more than a little bit skeptical. "Well that's good, then."

"Yeah," Dave said, looking past Blaine and shifting from one foot to the other. "So it was good to see you, but I kinda have to get going."

"Oh," Blaine said, eyeing the taller boy. "Where are you headed?"

Dave nodded in the direction behind Blaine. "Going to the Sports Authority for some shoes."

"I was actually going to stop there for some new workout clothes," Blaine said with a grin, "Mind if I tag along?"

_Fuck._

"I-uh. Sure," Dave said, internally cursing himself for not turning tail and running. But then again, how far could he get in flip-flops?

"Cool," Blaine said, smiling up at Dave. "And maybe while we're walking you can tell me how you're really doing."

Dave turned his gaze on the smaller boy, and Blaine took the opportunity to lock eyes with him. "I really do care. Just so you know."

Dave shifted uncomfortably again and turned in the direction they needed to go in. "We should probably get going."

Blaine deflated a little, but nodded. "Okay, yeah."

They walked in silence at first, Dave stealing quick glances when Blaine wasn't looking. He wasn't sure what Blaine's endgame was, but he figured it was either that he genuinely felt sorry for him _(ugh)_, or that he just wanted a sob story to laugh about with his friends later. Dave rolled his eyes at himself. _Why didn't I just tell him to go away?_

"This is way more awkward than I intended for it to be," Blaine said with a soft chuckle, glancing over at Dave. "Sorry. I'm probably the last person you want to talk to. I've just been sort of, I don't know—"

"You feel sorry for me," Dave said, cutting him off. "You don't have to. I'm fine."

Blaine immediately started shaking his head. "No- no, that's not what I meant at all. I just meant that I've been thinking about you. I even tried to find you on facebook."

Dave nodded curtly. "Yeah, I deleted that awhile back."

"Yeah," Blaine said, shooting Dave a sympathetic glance that made him want to crawl out of his skin. "Yeah, I kind of figured."

They walked in silence for awhile after that, Dave doing his absolute best to avoid making eye contact.

As they walked past the food court, Blaine suddenly grabbed Dave's arm and yanked until Dave complied, allowing himself to be led over to an empty table.

"Sit," Blaine said, taking a seat on the opposite side of the table.

Dave sighed and reluctantly sat, mostly because he had a strange feeling that he really didn't have much of a choice.

"So," Blaine began, speaking softly, "How are you, really?"

Dave blinked at him. "I'm fi—"

Blaine shook his head. "Don't tell me you're fine, Dave. I can tell you're not."

Dave decided to concentrate his efforts on looking at anything other than Blaine's face. He looked at the people scattered at the other tables. He looked at the lady with an inexplicably large amount of shopping bags. He looked at the swirly pattern on the table in front of him as he slowly traced it with his fingertip.

Blaine's hand came out of nowhere, it seemed, landing on top of his own and stilling it instantly. "Dave," Blaine said in a soft, low tone. "Please look at me."

Dave's eyes drifted slowly upward, hesitantly meeting Blaine's gaze. "Why?" was all he could manage to say, and even that sounded feeble.

Blaine shook his head and tried to smile, but it faltered. "Because I've been where you are."

"And you're here to tell me that it gets better?" Dave said, suppressing an eye roll.

Blaine nodded. "Actually, yeah, I am."

Dave shook his head, feeling the pin-prick beginnings of tears stinging at his eyes. After a few false starts, he looked at Blaine and shakily asked, "When?"

Blaine sighed and squeezed Dave's hand tighter. "I can't answer that. I think it's different for everybody. But I can tell you that shutting everyone out is definitely _not_ the answer."

Just as Dave opened his mouth to answer, he heard a chorus of whistles and laughter, and his eyes traveled over to a group of boys about their age that were walking past the food court, watching Blaine and Dave with a mixture of amusement and disgust. As they walked away, one of the boys called over his shoulder, "Get a room, fags!"

Dave's hand reflexively snapped out of Blaine's grasp. "Yeah," he said, looking back down at the table, visibly shaking. "This definitely seems better."

Blaine sighed and shook his head. "I- this is going to sound horrible, but you sort of get used to it. You grow a tough skin. Make friends with the right people, and don't be afraid to tell the wrong ones to fuck off."

Dave chuckled a little, looking up at Blaine. "Didn't think you had it in you to drop an f-bomb, Anderson."

Blaine half-grinned at Dave, then rolled his eyes in the direction the boys had gone in. "I don't normally swear, but trash like that sort of merits it, I think."

Dave eyed Blaine for a moment and then sighed softly. "I'm sorry," he said, locking eyes with Blaine. "I used to be that kind of trash, and I was horrible to you and Kurt."

Blaine waved dismissively. "You've already apologized for that, Dave."

"To Kurt," Dave said, "Not to you."

Blaine smiled softly at Dave. "Okay. Apology accepted."

Dave smiled a little, nodding his head as though to reassure himself that it really was okay.

"So," Blaine said, "You never did tell me how you've been."

Dave sighed deeply and shook his head. "I was hoping you'd forget about that."

Blaine laughed a little and shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry, no such luck."

Dave chewed his lip for a moment. "I- uh. Well, not so good, I guess. My parents are making me go to counseling, my little sister has nightmares about me dying, and I got held back for missing so much time from school."

Blaine looked at Dave with that sympathetic look that made Dave feel sick, but then he raised an eyebrow. "Wait, so you have to redo your senior year?"

Dave groaned and nodded. "Yeah, but I think I might just drop out. I can't go back, you know?"

Blaine shook his head furiously. "No! Absolutely not. You can't drop out. But you're right, you can't go back to that school. You should come back to McKinley, Dave."

"What- no, I can't do that," Dave said, wide-eyed. "Everyone there knows about me, too. I can't deal with that."

"That might be true, but you'll have friends there," Blaine said, enthusiastically throwing himself behind the idea.

Dave chuckled at the thought. "I don't have any friends there. Azimio and Kurt were the only ones, and they both graduated."

Blaine made a mock offended noise. "Uh, are you forgetting someone?" he said, pointing at himself with both hands.

Dave thought for a moment and then tentatively met Blaine's gaze. "So we're friends now?"

"Yeah," Blaine said, "We are. You alright with that?"

Dave smiled an actual smile and nodded. "I think I can live with it."

"Awesome," Blaine said, grinning back at Dave.

"So what now?" Dave asked.

"Now," Blaine said, getting up from the table, "We get you some shoes."


End file.
